MFAH has a new Kuwait connection

Updated 1:26 pm, Saturday, November 3, 2012

An emerald inscribed with the Throne Verse from the Qur'an is among items included in the famed al-Sabah Collection to be exhibited at the MFAH.

An emerald inscribed with the Throne Verse from the Qur'an is among items included in the famed al-Sabah Collection to be exhibited at the MFAH.

Photo: The Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait

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A spectacular 17th century Indian turban ornament from the al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait, on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

A spectacular 17th century Indian turban ornament from the al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait, on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Photo: The Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait

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An intricately decorated lidded cup and saucer originated in India in the mid-17th century.

An intricately decorated lidded cup and saucer originated in India in the mid-17th century.

Photo: The Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait

MFAH has a new Kuwait connection

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It wasn't quite as simple as rubbing Aladdin's lamp, but the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston suddenly has an extraordinary gallery of Islamic art.

The museum has signed an agreement with the owners of Kuwait's famed al-Sabah Collection that will bring an exhibit of 60 exquisite Islamic art objects here on a long-term loan starting Jan. 26.

To be displayed in the Law building, the collection contains jewelry, ceramics, textiles, manuscripts, metalwork, scientific instruments and architectural fragments dating from the eighth to 18th centuries. They illustrate the development of Islamic visual aesthetics based on calligraphy, geometric ornamentation and the arabesque, as well as the global nature of that culture's evolution - from Spain to North Africa, the Middle East to Central Asia.

"It's a tremendous coup for Houston," said MFAH director Gary Tinterow, who negotiated the partnership with the collection's owners, Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah and his wife, Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, with help from Mahrukh Tarapor, the MFAH's new senior adviser for international initiatives.

In what promises to be one of the social season's most glittering spectacles, Sheikha Hussah will be honored at the MFAH's Arts of the Islamic World Gala on Jan. 25. She directs Kuwait's Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, the cultural organization and museum established in 1983 to manage the entire collection's permanent loan to the state of Kuwait.

Tinterow said this is the first time the al-Sabah, whose strengths include the world's greatest holding of 17th-century Mughal jewelry, has agreed to such a partnership.

Museumgoers may remember the 85-carat engraved emerald and an elaborate jeweled turban ornament first seen here a decade ago in the al-Sabah traveling exhibit "Treasury of the World."

This time, Tinterow said, "they're not going away anytime soon." The first display will be on view for at least a year, with new objects rotating in during the initial term of the renewable, five-year agreement. It's not entirely one-sided; the MFAH will exchange staff and eventually art with the Kuwait institution.

Given Kuwait's oil industry and relationships built during the first Bush administration, Tinterow added, "We're natural partners in this enterprise."

The exhibit is for everyone, he added, "but I'm especially pleased that our important Muslim community will find their culture reflected in our museum."

Horowitz created similar installations in 2008, and Houston is one of a number of cities hosting them in 2012. Red and blue rugs divide the space as do two slogans in lettering on the wall: "your land" in red and "my land" in blue.

Across from these slogans hangs a large photo of President Barack Obama. A photo of Republican challenger Mitt Romney rests on the floor. Two televisions, installed back to back and tuned to MSNBC and CNN, hang over the center of the room.

Point taken: Seemingly opposed positions are uncannily alike. But is the country only divided in two? The installation, intended to function as a platform for a larger discourse surrounding art, politics, and culture, also features a website (www.yourlandmyland.us), and it culminates in an election night party.

Will partisans really gather at the CAMH that night to debate the issues? Dare to dream.

When I visited, the room was empty, and the TVs were deafening. That certainly says a lot about American politics of late.

If you head to the CAMH on Tuesday, step outside and visit with Rob Pruitt's "The Andy Monument," a silvery, 7-foot tribute to Andy Warhol, on display through April. Funds were raised for "The Andy Monument" through an online campaign on indiegogo.com, and the success was celebrated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Lynn Wyatt. The people spoke, the people chose, the people paid.